Nicolás R. Valdez is a Texas-based interdisciplinary performance artist and cultural arts educator who has been writing and producing original theater for over 20 years. He began studying traditional Conjunto music at the age of 9, and at 13, was the youngest founding member of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s youth theater company, Grupo Animo. Nicolas’ theater credits include a national tour with Teatro Campesino’s 25th Anniversary production of Zoot Suit and Su Teatro’s production of Enrique’s Journey at the Los Angeles Theater Company’s 2014 Encuentro De Las Américas. Since 2007, Nicolás has been an artist-in-residency regularly with Su Tetaro (Denver, CO) and Borderlands Theater (Tucson, AZ) and has received numerous grants from the Texas Commission on the Arts, NALAC, NPN, WESTAF, NEA, Tourwest, Texas Folklife Commission and is a graduate of the NALAC Leadership Institute class of 2016. His original one-man show, Conjunto Blues, which documents the Mexican-American working class experience through Conjunto accordion music, was featured at the LATC’s 2017 Encuentro and The San Diego Repertory Theater’s Latinx New Play Festival. In 2020, as a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and through a partnership with Teatro Vivo in Austin and San Antonio’s Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Conjunto Blues' was professionally filmed and edited for On-Demand digital streaming. The Conjunto Blues film has gone on to gain awards at several film festivals and has screened across the country and internationally. Nicolás is also a founding member of  Los Nahuatlatos, a San Antonio based Xicano-fusion band who have released two full-length albums, Tierra Sin Fin (2017) and Jamás Inquietos (2018). In their 10 years Los Nahuatlatos have toured throughout the SouthWest performing with numerous artists including Grammy Award winners La Santa Cecilia and Los Texmaniacs and have played dozens of festivals, fundraisers, political rallies and residencies. Most recently Nicolas was accepted to the 2023 Musician Changemaker Accelerator Academy (MCA) along with 9 other musicians from all over the country who are using their music to transform their communities through positive and equitable change. Nicolas continues to perform around the country, holding workshops, and finding creative ways to empower youth voices.